You are here

Blogs

At the Annual General Meeting of May 2014 there was a difficult discussion about sending money to overseas partners. The issue was not about supporting or not, as we all recognize that there are huge needs in many parts of the world. Indeed, our Conference was extremely generous in responding to the needs of our partners because of Super Typhoon Haiyan last November in the Philippines. The problem in our meeting arose because of the process.

As of Christmas, more than $1.1 million had been donated to the United Church's Typhoon Haiyan Appeal - a testament to the compassion of faithful United Church members. Of those donations, $585,000 was sent to ACT for programming in the Philippines. United Church partners, the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) and the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), have each received $60,000. The funds have been used to purchase materials for temporary shelter, food, clean water, medicines, and psychosocial counseling.

It has been over a month since the Super Typhoon hit the central islands of the Philippines, destroying thousands of homes, schools, churches, businesses and killing thousands of people, with so many others left homeless, struggling, lost, afraid and feeling alone. It has been over two weeks since I returned but my Facebook page gets messages everyday - those looking for more help, those sending pictures of relief workers and volunteers continuing tirelessly to repack food and other life necessities, and to travel the miles to bring hope.

I am so proud to be Canadian. Although very conscious of military presence everywhere, at the airport in Iloilo, Panay Island, I saw a Canadian flag on a sleeve, so approached with my passport and had a chat with Canadian Peacekeepers who have just arrived. They are headed to the devasted area with supplies and a new source of energy. That will be so encouraging but also strength for physical clean up that needs to happen.

In the towns, the people stand in line for hours to get their food 'relief' package, but the message is not getting to those on the coast who have further to travel. There is no way to communicate with the displaced and marginalized.

A survivor spoke about the wind blowing so hard and waves as high as the coconuts in the trees. Down the street is the Technical College, destroyed. The gym was designated as the community evacuation center but the roof collapsed with the force of the winds and the waves washed over other classrooms. Trees were uprooted falling on buildings and blocking roads.

Just returning from 24 hours touring Estancia, one of the areas gravely affected by Typhoon Yolanda and my heart is breaking with the devastation I have seen and pain that has been shared interviewing people. 98% of the community has been affected and the long term implications are overwhelming.

Today has been one of high emotions as I had a challenging visit back to the Smokey Mountain Day Care which has been badly vandalized....but more about that later. Last evening upon our return from the Women's Jubille gathering, volunteer workers had been busy preparing relief packages and the truck was half full. By this afternoon, three large container trucks had begun the 10-hour drive to reach the affected area.The goal is to feed 30,000 people with packages designed for a family of five to last a week.